


Ruined Plans Of A Romantic Nature

by afteriwake



Series: Stuff Of Improbable Legends [13]
Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies), Vampire Academy Series - Richelle Mead
Genre: EVERYTHING GOES WRONG, Engagement, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Happy Ending, POV Kirk, Poor Kirk, Romantic Fluff, Romantic Gestures, Tempting Fate, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-31
Updated: 2016-03-31
Packaged: 2018-05-30 08:44:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6416779
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kirk tries to plan the perfect romantic evening to propose to Rose but one thing after another goes wrong. Still, it turns out for the best in the end.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ruined Plans Of A Romantic Nature

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sideofrawr](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sideofrawr/gifts).



> And my 1,000th fic on AO3! **sideofrawr** has been wanting me to write this fic for ages and I had planned to write two different fics for the 1,000th fic and then was all "but wait! I could write the Kirkrose engagement fic!" and then this came about. It's not _quite_ what we had talked about but I lost all my notes when I switched laptop so I hope you don't mind, m'dear.

He wanted everything to be _perfect_. She deserved absolute perfection. Rose probably was going to roll her eyes at all of this, yeah, but she deserved it. They’d been through a lot. Maybe not as much as some, maybe not as much as she’d been through with Dimitri, but it was a lot. And…well, she deserved to be treated like royalty at least once.

Especially since by the end of the night he was kind of hoping she’d agree to marry him.

He’d been considering it for a little while. Not while they were in Lawrence, God no. They’d pretty much just started dating when they got pulled out of there and tossed here to New Orleans. And yeah, it was kind of rushed, but it felt right. They fit, in a way he knew he didn’t with anyone else. Didn’t matter there was an age difference, didn’t matter about their pasts, didn’t matter about past loves or past lovers, depending on who you were talking about…together, they _fit_.

Bones gave him so much shit for not being the damn space Casanova he used to be but really, it hadn’t held any appeal since Ginger, not really, but Ginger hadn’t been right, not exactly. He’d meant what he’d said to Kenzi on the boards before his blow-up with Ginger, about realizing he wanted kids and marriage and all that. And maybe him and Rose wouldn’t have kids of their own, yeah. Maybe that wouldn’t happen but…if they could have a good marriage, he had the feeling that would be more than enough.

He checked the suit he was wearing one last time. One of his better ones, but not one of his best ones. He’d gotten reservations at what was supposed to be one of the hottest restaurants in the Quarter, Feu de Paille, followed up by a carriage ride to a romantic spot where he was going to propose. He’d surprised Rose with a trip to a day spa with the friends she had here, and there was a dress laid out for her on the bed with heels and some nice jewelry to wear.

She’d totally know it was a set-up of some sort but hopefully she wouldn’t know it was a set-up for him to pop the question.

She emerged from the bedroom, wearing a sleeveless black knee length lace cocktail dress with a diamond bracelet and diamond drop earrings. She stopped and adjusted the strappy black heels she was wearing, her curled hair spilling over her shoulder. “Okay, Jim, you’ve gone to a lot of trouble to make today perfect. Why?” she asked when she straightened up.

“Who says I can’t spoil you every once in a while?” he asked, coming over to her.

She gave him a skeptical look. “You know, if it was anyone else saying it I’d call bullshit but…you _do_ actually spoil me,” she said thoughtfully. 

“Well, you just looked like you could use a day where you were pampered, and I thought if you had that I’d follow it up with a super romantic date,” he said.

“Sap,” she said, shaking her head, but she had a grin on her face. She moved in front of him and played with the lapels of his suit jacket. “Good thing it hasn’t rained yet.”

He frowned. “Rained?”

She nodded. “Regina said it was supposed to rain this evening. I mean, my hair looks great, and if we’re going to be in a restaurant, maybe we’ll be lucky and we’ll escape the rain.”

 _Well, there goes the carriage ride,_ he thought to himself as he moved his hands to her waist to pull her closer. “Well, hopefully we’ll be at the restaurant for a while. It’s supposed to be pretty nice.”

“What’s it called?” she asked, winding her arms around his neck.

“Feu de Paille,” he said. “It’s supposed to be a French fusion place.”

“Interesting,” she said. She leaned in more. “Well, I suppose I shouldn’t distract you, or else we’ll miss our reservation.”

“I don’t think I’d mind a _tiny_ distraction,” he said before kissing her. No matter how many times he did that, it never grew old, never grew boring. He hoped it never would, either. As long as he was lucky enough to be with her, he wanted every kiss to feel like their first one.

She pressed against him, and he was _almost_ tempted to say the hell with it, stay in their suite, take her to bed and then just surprise her with the ring when she woke up in the morning, but she pulled away and then went to go get a wrap to put around her shoulders. “Come on. I’m starved.”

“You’re always starved,” he said with a chuckle as she reached over for his hand and pulled him along.

“But you love me anyway.”

“Yeah, I know.”

**\---**

“Closed by the Board of Health?” He stared at the sign incredulously. He had literally made the reservations the day before. What the hell had happened to close them down in… He brought the wrist that had his watch on it up so he could see it. Nineteen hours?

“Must have been some shitty food,” she said. “Glad we didn’t eat there. Could have been a really memorable date for all the wrong reasons.”

“I suppose,” he said, reaching over for her hand. The car he’d hired for the evening had been dismissed, it was too early for the carriage ride, and from the looks and sounds of the area it’d be hell trying to get another table somewhere. Seemed like everyone in the world was in the Quarter tonight. With a sigh he looked over at Rose. “Guess we get to start finding someplace else to eat tonight.”

“Guess so,” she said. They moved away from the door and began walking. “Sorry the date sucks so far.”

“Yeah, well, I wanted it to be perfect.”

“Could be worse,” she said.

“Don’t say that!” Kirk said with a groan.

“You don’t honestly believe that BS, do you?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah, actually, I do,” he said with a nod.

“So if I go ‘What else could go wrong?’ you honestly think something else will—” She stopped as suddenly drops of rain fell on them. Huge drops, not little ones. They came down hard and fast, and she stared at him a moment before he pulled them along to find them shelter. “God damn it.”

“I was right,” he said, resisting the urge to smirk.

She smacked his shoulder. “Don’t start, or you’re getting kicked out of bed tonight,” she said, glaring at him as her now sopping wet hair fell in her face. She ran her hands up and down her arms. “Fuck, I’m freezing.”

He shrugged out of his suit jacket and put it around his shoulder. “Let’s get you in someplace warm,” he said. He looked and saw they were outside a bar. Music could be heard coming from inside. Karaoke, from the sounds of it. “Here.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Jim, this is a gay bar, you realize that, right?”

“So? It’s also warm and you’re dripping wet and shivering.”

“Good point,” she said. She let him shove her inside. They got a few looks and he went up to the bar. Rose looked at the bartender and sat on a stool. “Two double shots of vodka.”

“For both of you?” he asked.

She shook her head. “Just me. That should warm me up.”

The bartender gave her a look, but poured her the two double shots. Rose slammed them both back without hesitation before he turned to Kirk. “Double shot of whiskey.”

The bartender nodded. “Don’t get many tourists around here.”

“We’re not tourists,” Kirk said. “We live here. I’m trying to set up a youth center around these parts, for underprivileged kids.”

The bartender nodded. “No kidding,” he said. “Where abouts?”

“Lower 9th Ward,” Kirk said. “Figured that was one of the hardest hit areas, that was one of the places that might need it the most. I had experience running one in Kansas, figured I’d bring that experience here, see what I could do to help.”

“Wait. The Tyler Center?” the man asked with wide eyes. “That’s your place?”

Kirk nodded. “Yeah, that’s my place.”

The bartender looked impressed. “I teach in that area. I got kids who are looking forward to going there when it opens. Didn’t realize it was your place. This round of drinks is on me.” Then he looked up. “Hey, Frank! This is…” He looked over at Kirk. “What’s your name again?” 

“James Pike,” he said, giving the fake name he used for business.

“Hey, this is James Pike, the guy who’s building that youth center in the Lower 9th! Him and his girl got caught out in that freak storm! I think we should make him welcome, don’t you?”

Another guy came over, a burly man in a muscle tee and tight jeans, with long black hair in a ponytail. “Yeah, I think we should,” he said, a grin on his face. “My daughter can’t wait for it to open up, and my husband is curious as to some of the things you’ll be offering. He worked with kids at one of the other centers that got destroyed by Katrina.” He nodded to a table. “He’s over there, if you want to talk.”

Rose gave him a smile. “Go on. Go talk shop, Jim. I’ll stay here with…”

“Roger,” the bartender said. “We’ll take good care of your girl.”

Kirk nodded, then got off his stool before leaning over and giving her a quick kiss. “I’ll be back soon, promise.”

“Okay,” Rose said.

**\---**

They’d been there three hours and so far, he was having a pretty good time. Better than he thought he’d have. He and Rose had moved away from the bar to one of the tables near the stage, watching the singers do the karaoke. Some were good, some were horrible, some were amazing and some should have been shot and put out of their misery.

“You know, you should get up there and show them how it’s done,” Rose said, sipping her drink before she ate some more of the gumbo that the bar served. He had not realized the place had an amazing Creole and Cajun inspired pub grub menu, and it was certainly some of the best he’d ever eaten.

He shook his head. “What exactly am I going to sing?” he asked, grinning.

She smirked. “’Agony.’”

“I’m in a good mood, and besides, it’s a duet.”

“We’ve seen at least six guys who could pull it off. Get some brass ones and ask one of them.” She lifted up another spoonful of gumbo.

“Only if you’ll marry me.”

Her hand froze as the spoonful was halfway to her mouth. “Are you shitting me?” she asked. “Because that sounds like a joke.”

He reached into his pocket for the ring, only to find it wasn’t there. He frowned at that. He’d spent a lot of money on the ring: a decent sized diamond surmounted by rubies. He’d known she would have loved it. “Damn it, I _had_ a ring,” he grumbled.

“Seriously?” she asked, lowering her spoon. “Like, you’re not joking?”

He stopped patting down his pockets and reached over for her free hand. “I swear, Rose, I’m not joking. I had this perfect evening all planned out. Perfect dinner, carriage ride, perfect place to propose…I wanted it to be, well, _perfect_. And it just wasn’t. But I love you, I do. I think we’re a really good fit. Damn near perfect. And if we can get through a night like this, where nothing goes right, and you don’t think I’m a moron and you even kind of consider wanting to spend whatever time we have here with me, then I’m the damn luckiest man in all the world. So…would you marry me?”

She stared at him for a moment, then leaned forward and kissed him. “Of course I will, you sap.”

“Good,” he said with a wide grin.

“Hey, guys!” Rose called out now that the newest song was done. The bar got quiet. “Jim just asked me to marry him. Next round of drinks are on him, _and_ he’s going to sing the next song!” A loud cheer went up and he shook his head before kissing her again as people began shouting out their congratulations. He really did love her, so much, and he’d make it a point to tell her every day, as often as she wanted.


End file.
